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NBX: Turn 5
"Eclipse" / "Errant Deposits" Open Feb 14; Closed March 7; Posted July 22; Finished August 13 Preamble The Glass Moon nears its syzygy, already sparkling with mad refractions next to the daylight sun. Welcome to: The Fluff Corner Starring R. E. Ogleman With Special Guest: Zarra Rhood, Syzygy Expert REO: Hi there, everybody! I'm terribly sorry for being undistributed last month, but boy do we have a treat for you today! With me in the studio is none other than Zarra Rhood, here to talk about the upcoming celestial event happening later this month. Zarra, would you mind introducing yourself? HZR: Ov course! I am Hranitel Rhood. I liv on a small island -- Beliyol, if you're ever in the area -- in the middle of the Umbicaelus Sea along wiv my fellow cloistered hranitel. Like you, Ratosk, we dedicate aur lives to study. REO: Specifically, the study of the Glass Moon? HZR: Yes. As you say, the Glass Moon. REO: Well what do you call it? HZR: It has many names. That is perhaps its most enduring, but I prefer Akaruime, which in the cowmon tongue is closest to mean Bright Eye. Evocative, especially this time of year. REO: Fascinating. Well, tell us all about this time of year. I know last year there was a nice sparkle going on during the solstice. Some mystifying reflections off the surface, even. Should we be expecting something similar this year? HZR: (Laughing.) Oh, that waz nothing. Last year was a partial occulting, where part of the dizk of the sun is behind the moon. That means that most of the light that reaches us is still coming from the sun. But thiz year, Akaruime will pass completely over the sun, and all of the light that reach us will be refracted through it first. It's the first total occulting in almost a hundred years. REO: That must be very exciting for you. HZR: (Muted, manic chuckling.) You hav absolutely no idea. It's like the apocalypse back home. Everyone is so busy with the viewing equipment and checking the old geometric calculus. The period of totality should encompass about a full day, meaning that people all around the world will be able to experience this life-changing event firzt hand. Beliyol is in the path this year, which is just... divine! If you're not in the path, don't woorry. Thanks to spherical harmonics, these events often come in pairs. The next total occulting is actually just next year! REO: I've got chills. What a time to be alive. HZR: I know, right? REO: Looks like we're out of time today, but Zarra and I will be with you all month up until the syzygy. We'll be doing weekly shows where we'll be going in depth about what to expect, and we'll be fielding whatever questions you've got. Just send 'em in, and we'll do our best to answer them. HZR: Nexzt week, we'll be doing a practical workshop on eye safety, looking at how you can view the spegtacle without burning your eyesockets out or setting your home on fire. Both: See you then! This has been: The Fluff Corner Starring R. E. Ogleman With Special Guest: Zarra Rhood Interstitial 1 Welcome to: The Fluff Corner Starring R. E. Ogleman With special guest: Zarra Rhood, the Hostess for the Solstice O&R: Welcome back! REO: We’re here again, with the pre-eminent Hranitel Rhood - HZR: and dhe epithetical R.E. Ogleman - REO: Here to answer your questions about the upcoming occulting this solstice. Our first very strongly worded question comes from an anonymous ape from the land of Orang. First, I’d just like to take a moment to state that Ogleman Industries and all of its subsidiaries do not under any circumstances endorse the practice of involuntary bondage in any form, and I will note that all of our pixies are treated fairly, and are compensated justly and adequately. HZR: ...Ratosk- REO: Dear Ogle Man and Rude Woman, I don’t believe you. I DON’T. How do you know there’s going to be another eclipse? Come to think of it, why doesn’t it happen every year? What gives? I despise your show. HZR: Did he coll me “Rude”? REO: Just roll with the rocks. Maybe you’d like to answer this question, Zarra. HZR: Oh, zertainly. It’s a cowmon misconzeption that Al’jann and Akaruime follow the same path ev’ry year. Actually, they are like tsu ice racers, always chasing or falling behind in each-other’s orbits. REO: The folks at home can’t see the hand motions, unfortunately. HZR: Ah! Ov course they can’t. There are many vary complicaded geometries we can derive, accounting for dhe orbits of not just the two bodies, but many other neighboring planets, passing comets, and the spots on the sun. Sometimes, like this year and next year, we get vary lukky and the forzes align, but it’s quite rare. REO: I have to admit, I haven’t done skaelic calculus in decades. HZR: It’s a dying way, but we find that geometries are much more easily deduced in their native form than trying to turn them into functions and formulas. REO: Fascinating. I’ll have to sharpen my old compass. Speaking of old ways... REO: Hey REO! Just a humble alchemist here from the greatest city on Al’jann! It’s hard to get a good scrying line to your show, what with all the prana activity around here, but I tune in whenever I can. I was just wondering if you had some insight into what the Moon is made of. I’ve been poring through accounts from the last few centuries, and there seems to be camps that believe it to be harmonious with sand and glass and others that find it more in harmony with certain varieties of crystal or mineral. What’s your insight? REO: I’m afraid I haven’t cracked open an alchemical treatise in quite a while. Zarra? HZR: Sorry. Legends seem to conflict on the point ov material. Measuring dhe change in angle ov light does not give uz much help, az they do not fit any mundane materiel. Strange to believe something we see above every day for millenia could still be so full of mystery. REO: It’s really an ode to its beauty. Alright, I think we have time for one more. This one comes from Giggun of the Central Island. I assume he means Corsidera -- the big heart-shaped island here in Umbicaelus. I also assume he had this transcribed at swordpoint. He writes… REO: Ogleman. Me and my tribe... the tribe is in quotation marks, let me just… Me and my “tribe” have discussed this at length, and we’ve decided that the new lady should be a permanent host. She has a much more attractive voice, and we… REO: Oh no. No, I’m not reading the rest of that. HZR: What? He seemz endearing enough, so far. REO: Actually, to tell you the truth, it’s been nice to have a co-host these last few weeks. It’s been fun. Unfortunately, it’s not up to us, Giggun. HZR: It has! But I really do need return to Beliyol. The other hranitel need me, and my being gone is of great consequence to them. But I promise to come back for next year’s syzygy. REO: We’re already making plans for next year’s programming. If we can drum up enough interest, we might even be able to do a live show, who knows? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves! We’re closing in on the Occulting, and Zarra and I are still here to guide you through it. Next week, we’ll be going over the projected path of the eye in detail, and we'll be giving special instruction to anyone that will find themselves in the focal field's central region. O&R: See you then! This has been: The Fluff Corner Starring R. E. Ogleman With Special Guest: Zarra Rhood Lothandris The Black Wind Marauders The Grand City of Riev Escoroso The Wylling The Hekta Kingdom of Askael Interstitial 2 REO: If you’re just joining us, we’re about to reach the height of the syzygy. Now Zarra, what does this mean for our listeners all across Al'jann? HZR: Unfortunately for mos of you, not much. But if you’re in Umbicaelus and find youself directly underneath its path about now, the moonlights will be at their absolute strongest. I think a few of my brothers shoud be in the path now, recording their observations. We want to know to, you see. REO: It’s not every year a full syzygy happens. HZR: You said it. REO: And let me just remind everybody to use safe viewing practices. Don’t look directly at the moonlight. Squinting and looking through your fingers could still leave you with permanent eye damage. Use a dark glass, or if you have to, a reflecting pool or- HZR: Ratosk. REO: Hold on, this is important. HZR: Ratosk. Look. Look at the moon. In the Peregrine Sea, in a festival-ground in the city of Riev, a red-eyed woman looks up at the moon just as the first white-hot point appears upon its surface. In the God Dragon Sea, as a ship loaded down with paperstone breaks the clouds of The Deep with its prow, the moonlight glares and gleams. In the Tamric Sea and the Veiled Sea and the other obscure seas of Al’jann, a flash of moon-tempered sun breaks through the obstructing clouds, turning the sky momentarily white. And in the sea called many names - Hyperborea, Skaggarak, Aguilas - the talisman of a Marauder king is lit from behind by a radical flare that breaks free from the moon, turning into a meteor in the sky, the same meteor that the first legion of a new Askael watches streak south, toward Umbicaelus. REO: Profane Gods, what is that? It looks like a star, no… a meteor or something. Zarra? Zarra!! REO: It appears my… co-host has left on some urgent business. At least, I think she has. It must be very urgent, she didn't have time to tell me what it was. REO: I’m not quite sure what to tell you all. I’m just as blindsided as you by the recent events. The recent event. For those of you still listening, I’m assuming you weren’t watching, so I’ll just… try to fill you in here. It looks like an… object, of some considerable size has separated itself from the moon and has landed here on Al’jann. If I had to guess, I would say it landed somewhere near here, somewhere in Umbicaelus. I’m sure if Zarra was here, she’d have something to add about this, but frankly… REO: I’m sorry, I can’t do this. The rest of the show is canceled. Go, be with your families. Try to take this all in. The Orang Kingdom Category:NBX: Turn History